Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has said that rapidly changing technology and developments have underscored the importance of having futuristic development with a vision. Knowledge is the key to innovation, entrepreneurship, research, development of science, technology and successful practices and these will generate wealth in future.

“Due to changing fast changing technology and new developments taking place at a rapid pace it is important to have vision for futuristic development. There are two important things; futuristic development is dependent upon knowledge and knowledge is power. Innovation, entrepreneurship, research, science, technology and successful practises are called knowledge and conversion of knowledge into wealth is the future,” he said.

Gadkari was speaking at Innoverse 2025 National SME Business Conclave organised by Bombay Industries Association, here Saturday.

Addressing a gathering of MSMEs, business owners, promoters and directors, the minister said that more than 40% GDP is contributed by MSMEs. “Water, power, transport and communication are crucial components for agriculture and industry without which neither capital investment will be viable nor trade, industry, business, agriculture or employment  develop. Without developing employment, potential poverty cannot be eradicated.”

He spoke on a slew of waste regeneration measures adopted by his ministry underlining the importance of converting waste into wealth which he said requires good leadership.

In his own constituency, Nagpur, Gadkari said that eight years back they started cleaning sewerage water and giving it to Maharashtra State Electricity Board which is earning them Rs 300 crore royalty annually for Koradi and Khaperkheda power generation.

In Delhi, garbage from Ghazipur is being recycled and 80 lakh tonnes of municipal waste has been used for NHAI for road construction. He said organic waste is used to generate Methane which can further convert to get CNG or Hydrogen. On a kilometre-long stretch of Jabalpur- Nagpur road they used bio-bitumen from rice straw which proved to be 50% superior than petroleum bitumen.

“This is the future,” he said, as he implored the industry body to emphasise on research and innovation.

He further said that manufacturing contributes to 22% -24% of GDP, services sector contributes 52%-54% and only 14% is contributed by agriculture, rural and tribal areas. “Agriculture, rural and tribal areas have huge potential for development and for Atmanirbhar Bharat. We need to increase it from 14%s to 24% for which good technology is required."

Terming GDP as Governance, Development and Performance, Gadkari said to increase GDP the government should be time bound, transparent, result oriented and corruption free.

In Char Dham, he said, with a new road being constructed at the cost of Rs 12,000 crore and 80% completed, tourism has increased by three times. Similarly, he said, during Kumbh Mela, increased  traffic due to good roads in Prayagraj has led to a contribution of Rs 3 lakh crore in the GDP in Uttar Pradesh. He said innovative ideas will increase GDP and exhorted the gathering to adopt global best practises.

The union minister further added the size of automobile industry has increased from Rs 7 lakh crore to  Rs 22 lakh crore since he took charge of the ministry and now stands at third position globally after US and China. “Now with policy of mandatory scrapping of vehicles after 15 years, waste material of aluminium, copper, rubber, plastic, copper and steel can be recycled to make automobile components thereby reducing costs by 30% making us a competitive market’ he said as he added that the aim is now to bring it to the No.1 position in the next five years."

Gadkari also said that now with all major global automobile brands in India, Mercedes plans to manufacture electric cars in India .

He said that Indian Oil, in a project in Panipat, from rice straw (parali) is generating 1 lakh litres of ethanol,150 tonnes of bio bitumen and 78,000 tonnes of bio- aviation fuel.

“We want to make (the country) No. 1 manufacturer of aviation fuel in world. There is economic viability, availibilty of raw material in India. Only there is need for good technology, innovation and research,” he said, as he urged the industry body to start manufacturing imported products to create wealth and for true nationalism.  

“We need development; we also need to protect the three pillars of society – Ethics, economy, ecology and environment. Honesty, credibility and goodwill are good capital for the future,” said Gadkari.